The Honeymooners - Review

THE honeymoon period is well and truly over for television remakes if this unfunny and instantly forgettable update is anything to go by.

Loosely based on the 1950s series starring Jackie Gleason and Art Carney, The Honeymooners pretty much stalls from the outset thanks to a half-hearted script and a plot that goes nowhere very slowly.

Cedric the Entertainer stars as New York bus driver, Ralph Kramden, a self-proclaimed man of vision, who is always just one great idea away from fame and fortune.

Together with bis best friend and neighbour, Ed Norton (Mike Epps), he attempts to fashion a new life for himself by entering into get rich quick schemes that almost always leave him poorer than when he started.

So when his long-suffering wife, Alice (Gabrielle Union) sets her sights on a more practical goal – buying a duplex for them to share with Ed and his wife, Trixie (Regina Hall) – it is up to Ralph to find the money needed to secure their future.

ailure to do so could spell the end of their relationship, so Ralph sets about coming up with the money in the hope of beating Eric Stoltz’s smarmy upscale real-estate agent to the lease.

The ensuing ‘comedy’ is an extremely drawn-out affair that will probably test the patience of any viewer in spite of its 89-minute running time.

For starters, the premise itself is unbelievable, while every scheme that Ralph enters into feels like its doomed to fail.

The middle section of the film concentrates on their attempts to train a greyhound which they find abandoned in a dumpster but aside from introducing John Leguizamo’s mildly amusing trainer, most of the comic potential gets squandered.

Which leaves audiences counting down the minutes to the obvious feel-good conclusion by way of many a contrived device.

The advice, therefore, is to steer well clear of Cedric’s bus in the first place.